Posted on Friday 10th March 2023
Staffordshire’s army of gritters were out in force overnight as more sleet and snow showers hit the county.
Almost 50 schools have already announced they will be closed today due to the poor weather. You can check out the very latest on schools who have reported closures to the council here
With one of the largest winter highways teams in the country, the council’s 40-strong gritters were deployed at tea-time yesterday to grit the main and extended road network.
Due to the forecast of more snow showers, a second re-run of the main routes was carried around midnight with crews back out again in parts of the county at 5am.
David Williams, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport at Staffordshire County Council, said:
“It has been a tough 24 hours for the crews, but as always, they do an amazing job for this council and the people of this county.
“As we have seen, the weather has been quite unpredictable, ranging from bright days to rain, to sleet, to snow. We will continue to monitor the conditions from our own weather stations across the county, so we get very localised information about the road conditions.”
With temperatures falling below zero and more snow forecast for the weekend, people are being reminded to take extra care and allow extra time for their journey if they are out and about this weekend.
David added:
“Most roads are passible with care, but roads on the very highest grounds may need to be avoided. The grit does also need traffic to travel over it to work effectively, so please take extra care over the next couple of days. The most important thing is that everyone needs to get to where they need to go safely.”
People can find out more information about our gritting routes here.
The number of schools which have decided to close stood at almost 50 (at 8am). The decision to close is a matter for each school and the council website will include details only of the ones which have been reported to us.